People desperate to beat the traffic in trips between Valletta, Msida, Gżira, Sliema or St Julian’s can now hop on one of 40 electric motorcycles making up the fleet of Malta’s first motorbike sharing service.

Launched on Friday, IOScoot will allow users to book a scooter through a mobile phone app, collecting the bike at spots within the company's operating range and dropping it off at an agreed-upon area by their destination.

Users must have a valid scooter licence to use the service and will pay a discounted rate if using their tallinja card, paying only for their trip.  Each motorbike will have two helmets locked inside its luggage compartment. 

The company plans to extend the service to other locations across Malta and Gozo over the next four years, through a €1.5m investment.

Transport Minister Ian Borg commended the investment and said that the government had introduced various measures to encourage motorbike use –exempting electric motorcycles from registration tax and cutting it for other motorbikes, limiting licence fees to €10 for motorbikes up to 125cc and offering a €400 grant to people buying pedelecs.

Dr Borg noted that the incentives seemed to be working, with more than 3,500 road licences for motorbikes under 125cc issued since 2015.

People keen to start using a scooter can do so after sitting for a 10-hour course costing €10.

IOScoot CEO Jorge Magana said that users keen to try the service could do so free of charge for a two-week trial period running until August 12 after registering themselves on the IOScoot website. Scooters will be available from Floriana park and ride between 7am to 7pm.

The IOScoot app will be available for download once the trial period is over.